Nichols Named Finalist for Lowes Senior CLASS Award

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard senior defender
Lizzy Nichols is one of 10 of the nation’s best women’s
soccer players who were selected as the 2009 finalists for the
Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award for displaying both on-field and
off-field excellence.

Nichols, one of two Ivy League players selected, is a co-captain
of the Crimson this fall. A native of Princeton, N.J., she is a
three-time All-Ivy League honoree, including a two-time first-team
selection, has garnered Soccer Buzz All-Northeast Region honors
twice and received NSCAA All-Northeast Region distinction in
2007.

Nichols has scored two goals this season, including the
game-winning score on a penalty kick in Harvard’s 3-2 victory
over Penn Sept. 26. She currently ranks second on the Crimson in
scoring with five points this fall. Nichols tallied two goals last
season as a junior, including the game winner on a penalty kick at
109:51 in Harvard's 2-1 double-overtime victory over Columbia Nov.
8. The win clinched the Ivy League title for the Crimson, the
program's first since 1999, and clinched Harvard’s automatic
berth in the NCAA tournament.

A double concentrator in history and literature and history of art
and architecture, Nichols attended Columbia’s Paris program
in art and urban studies last year and received a Weatherhead grant
for thesis research in Morocco and Paris during the summer of 2009.
She was an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team honoree a
year ago and is a two-time Academic All-Ivy League choice.

In the community, Nichols is a member of a board of a Harvard
student-run non-profit organization called Circle of Women, which
is committed to promoting women’s education in the developing
world. One project, entitled “Project Wonkhai,”
involved the construction of a school for girls in Wardak,
Afghanistan, which required raising $120,000 and working with local
collaborators to oversee construction. After the building was
completed, Nichols, the web officer of the organization, helped
raise money for school supplies, teacher training programs and
vocational training.

She has also spent time volunteering with her teammates at a local
pre-school, worked with Habitat for Humanity, organized soccer
clinics for local children and participated in the Harvard
Athletics Bench Press for Cancer. She is currently helping the
organization of the Goals4Leaders program, a project that will help
raise funds for Coaches across Continents, a non-profit
organization that uses the game of soccer to teach life and
leadership skills in the developing world.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified
as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four
areas of excellence – classroom, character, community and
competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for
Staying in School™, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award
focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use
their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in
their communities. The finalists were chosen by a media committee
from the list of 30 men’s candidates and 30 women’s
candidates that were announced in August.

Nationwide balloting begins immediately to determine the winner.
Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will
announce the Senior CLASS Award winners during the 2009 NCAA
Men’s and Women’s College Cup championships in early
December.

These 10 finalists will be placed on the Lowe’s Senior CLASS
Award soccer ballot for a nationwide vote beginning Oct. 5 and
concluding Nov. 13. Fan balloting will be available on the
award’s official Web site, http://www.seniorCLASSaward.com, as well as through
text messaging. Fans can text GOAL to 74567 to vote for
women’s finalists. Fan balloting will be coupled with votes
from coaches and media to determine the recipient of the award who
best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character,
community and competition. The winner will be announced during the
2009 NCAA Division I Women's College Cup in College Station, Texas,
scheduled for Dec. 4-6.

“We commend these student-athletes for their outstanding
achievements on and off the field,” said Tom Lamb,
Lowe’s senior vice president of marketing.
“Lowe’s is proud of its affiliation with the NCAA and
college athletics, and we want to honor these competitors who have
displayed a commitment to character, community and the classroom in
addition to recognizing their accomplishments on the soccer
field.”

This marks the third year for the men’s and women’s
soccer division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, and more
than 175 student-athletes were nominated this year.